Robbie O'Connell Concert

Caught Robbie O'Connell in concert at the Circle of Friends Coffeehouse here in Franklin on Saturday night. One of the many songs he sang in this "Celtic Christmas" show was the following:


THE CHARLADIES' BALL
Harry O'Donovan

You may talk of your outings, your picnics and parties,
Your dinners and dances and hoolies and all
But wait till I tell you of the gas that we had
On the night that we went to the Charladies' Ball.
I went there as Queen Anne and I went with my man.
He was dressed as a monkey locked up in a cage.
There was pirets and pirots and Hottentots and whatnots
And stars that you'd see on the music hall stage.

Chorus:
At the Charladies' Ball people said one and all,
"You're the belle of the ball, Mrs. Mulligan."
We had one-steps and two-steps and the divil knows what new steps.
We swore that we never would be dull again, by dad.
We had wine, porter and Jameson.
We had cocktails and cocoa and all.
We had champagne that night but we'd real pains next morning,
The night that we danced at the Charladies' Ball.

There was cowboys and Indians that came from Drumcondra,
Sweet Francis Street fairies all diamonds and stars.
There was one of the Rooneys as the clock over Mooney's
And a telegram boy as a message from Mars.
Mary Moore from the Lots was the Queen of the Scots
With a crown out of Woolworth's perched up on her dome.
There was young Jemmy Whitehouse came dressed as a lighthouse
And a Camden Street Garbo that should have stayed home.

Second Chorus:
At the Charladies' Ball people said one and all,
"You're the belle of the ball, Mrs. Mulligan."
We had one-steps and two-steps and the divil knows what new steps.
We swore that we never would be dull again, be dad.
We had wine, porter and Jameson,
We had cocktails and cocoa and all.
We had rumbos and tangos, half-sets and fandangos,
The night that we danced at the Charladies' Ball.

Mary Ellen O'Rourke was the Queen of the Dawn.
By one-thirty she looked like a real dirty night.
Mick Farren, the bester, came dressed as a jester.
He burst his balloon and dropped dead at the fright.
Kevin Barr came as Bovril, "Stops that sinking feeling"
Astride of a bottle, pyjamas and all.
But he bumped into Faust, who was gloriously soused
And the two of them were sunk at the end of the hall.

Third Chorus (same as before but with these last 2 lines):
We'd a real stand-up fight but we fell down to supper
The night that we danced at the Charladies' Ball.


(From "Songs of Dublin," edited by Frank Harte: this song was made famous by Jimmy O'Dea and written by Harry O'Donovan. The song was written for performing on stage, but it has so much that is Dublin in it, that it has been accepted by the tradition.)